Since 2004, a civil war is being fought in Northern Yemen between Yemeni forces and Shiite Houthi rebels. In 2009, it spilled over into the neighboring border region of Saudi Arabia. This conflict is increasingly becoming a danger to regional stability, according to news reports by CNN[29] and the BBC,[30] as various countries are said to be involved, e.g. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan.[31] The United Nations[32] and UNDP Yemen report a growing problem of civilians fleeing from the region. Yemen is said to have more than 60 million guns.[33] The 2009 South Yemen insurgency has further destabilized the country.

Some news reports have suggested that, on orders from President Barack Obama, US warplanes fired cruise missiles at what officials in Washington claimed were Al Qaeda training camps in the provinces of Sana’a and Abyan on December 17, 2009.[34] Other reports suggest that the airstrikes were carried out by Yemeni Mig-29 aircraft, probably helped by US intelligence,[35] or that cruise missiles were launched from warships offshore.[36] Officials in Yemen said that the attacks claimed the lives of more than 60 civilians, 28 of them children. Another airstrike was carried out on December 24.[37]
Embassy of Yemen in Washington, D.C.

On January 3, 2010, the U.S. and British embassies in Yemen closed for security reasons after the failed plot to bomb a plane in Detroit and after reports of eight individuals planning an attack on the embassy itself. One was arrested with a suicide vest, while three others were killed. Four remained at large as of January 4, 2010.[38]

Despite these tensions between the US and Yemen, as well as increasing worries about terrorism in Yemen, President Obama has stated that he has no plans to introduce US military forces into the country, a sentiment that was echoed by US General David Petraeus. However, the terrorism worries seemed justified as a foiled terrorist plot was apparently conceived in Yemen. Instead of military intervention, the US government intends to increase military aid to $140 million in 2010.[39]

Geopolitical significance of Yemen (primarily its straits and oil fields) keeps this country in the sphere of U.S. strategic interests. Control over the Aden port - the "gate to Asia" - brings huge benefits to the USA and opens infinite possibilities for maneuvering in front of them. However, America is not the only nation to be interested in Yemen. China is struggling to improve its influence in Sri Lanka and Burma to form new transport paths in the Persian Gulf, Africa, and Middle East area as naval paths of the Indian Ocean are believed to be the “aortas of the Chinese economic organism.”

Wikipedia